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Video: Rash of tornadoes in Oklahoma

A system of violent thunderstorms roared across the nation's midsection Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least eight people in three states as giant tornadoes caused extensive damage yet again.

The high-powered storms arrived as forecast, just two days after a massive tornado tore through the southwest Missouri town of Joplin and killed 122 people.

KHBS/KHOG-TV, citing the National Weather Service, reported that a tornado said by spotters to be up to a mile wide had destroyed the town of Denning, Arkansas, at about 12:15 a.m. (1:25 a.m. ET) Wednesday. Denning, in Franklin County, has about 100 homes.

Franklin County Sheriff Anthony Bowen, who was near the town of Edna, told NBC News that trees and power lines were down everywhere and gas lines were also reported ruptured. He said at least four homes had been completely destroyed in the Edna area.

He said people had called dispatchers reporting family members were unaccounted for, but he was unable to give numbers of injured or dead.

Emergency officials said early Wednesday that at least two people were killed in Arkansas, bringing to nine the total number of people killed in storms in three states Tuesday night and early Wednesday.

Tommy Jackson, of Arkansas department of emergency management, told NBC News that one fatality had been confirmed in Denning, but reports of damage were slow partly because of the lack of light.

Another person died after storms hit neighboring Johnson County. There weren't any immediate details about how either person died.

In Oklahoma, powerful tornadoes obliterated houses, splintered trees and tossed cars off highways. At least five people were killed, including a woman in a mobile home park in Chickasha, and numerous others injured.

Television footage in the aftermath of the storms showed remnants of homes and buildings strewn across roads and fields. One car wound up wrapped around a tree.

Rescue crews were frantically searching for a 3-year-old child reported missing in the rubble of a home in Piedmont, a suburban area northwest of Oklahoma City. The child's mother and two other children were injured and taken to the hospital after trying to ride the storm out in a bathtub, NBC station KFOR-TV reported.

In Kansas, police said two people died when high winds threw a tree into their van around 6 p.m. near the small town of St. John, about 100 miles west of Wichita. The highway was shut down because of storm damage.

Northeastern Tarrant and Dallas counties in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area were also under a tornado warning, and numerous North Texas counties were under a tornado watch, the National Weather Service reported.

The city of Dallas activated sirens due to the tornado warning and s potters confirmed a tornado near Bedford, Texas.

Funnel clouds and at least one tornado around North Texas were spotted, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Dallas Love Field spokesman Jose Torres said everyone in and around the airport terminal was moved to a basement beneath the terminal as storms moved through. He said no one reported actually seeing a tornado at the airport.

All American Airlines and Eagle operations at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport were suspended for the remainder of night due to storm activity. Delays are expected Wednesday.

Several tornadoes struck Oklahoma City and its suburbs during rush hour.

Children in critical condition
Cherokee Ballard, a spokeswoman for the state medical examiner, said earlier Tuesday four people died west of Oklahoma City in Canadian County, where a weather-monitoring site in El Reno recorded 151 mph winds. She did not have any immediate details about the deaths.

Authorities also said there were at least 60 wounded, including three children who were in critical condition, authorities said.

Jerry Smith, emergency management director in Canadian County, Okla., told msnbc.com that the twister flipped over several vehicles with people inside.

"We have damage and we have people out doing surveys to get a handle on where the damage is," Smith said. "We are in the process of trying to make arrangements for shelters and to get people some assistance."

Two storms raked the southern side of the city — in the same area hit May 3, 1999, by the strongest tornado ever recorded.

Spokeswoman Lara O'Leary of the region's Emergency Medical Service Authority said there was a report of a gas explosion near El Reno and that emergency workers were dispatched.

The tornado caused "extensive damage" in El Reno, a town of about 15,000 people, said Rick Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Norman.

"There are numerous trucks and cars overturned along Interstate 40," he said.

A semi-truck on Interstate 81 also blew over and was left a twisted wreck alongside the road. The driver of the truck was taken to the hospital and was in critical condition, KFOR reported.

A helicopter from KFOR of Oklahoma City tracked one storm as it slammed the McClain County town of Goldsby, south of Norman, and plowed across farmland beyond.

Obliterated house
As the copter's camera zoomed in on one obliterated house, a family emerged from a storm shelter.

The foundation was the only thing recognizable, with a debris field spreading away from it. A large propane tank in the middle of the debris could be seen hissing gas. An overturned vehicle lay nearby.

Pilot Jim Gardner set the chopper down at the scene to make sure the family was OK. He reported that they suffered only minor injuries.

Tornado sirens went off in Oklahoma City and nearby towns as residents hunkered down. State offices and a number of businesses let their workers go home hours earlier since severe weather had been expected. But the mayor's office told msnbc television that the city proper seemed to have been spared.

The storms began about 3 p.m. in western Oklahoma and followed tracks greater than 40 miles into the state capital. State offices and a number of businesses let their workers go home hours earlier so they could be out of harm's way.

Interstate 40 was closed west of the city as the storm crossed the roadway near El Reno.

Another tornado touched down in the rural Oklahoma town of Canton, and search dogs were called out to find survivors.

Canton city employee Linda Hisell said police reported a twister moved through the area around Canton Lake, about 70 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. A trailer park there was "leveled," the Weather Channel reported an emergency official as saying.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for 14 counties due to tornadoes, severe storms and flooding that began Sunday.

President Barack Obama pauses while speaking at Missouri Southern University on May 29, during a memorial for victims of the Joplin tornado.
(Brendan Smialowski / AFP - Getty Images)
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Joplin residents stand for a moment of silence during a memorial service on May 29, marking the one week anniversary of an EF-5 tornado which ripped a six mile long path of destruction through Joplin..
(Charlie Riedel / AP)
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Kenzie Buffalo, left, plays catch with a baseball on the roof of what used to be her grandfather's house with her friend Sarah Koepke in Joplin on May 28.
(Larry W. Smith / EPA)
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Matt Teel cleans off a Jesus statue after it was found in the ruins of St. Mary's Church in Joplin on May 28. As the town continues to recover from the treacherous storm over 150 people are still missing. Funerals are being planned.
(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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Tracey Presslor comforts friends and classmates of her nephew Will Norton on May 28 in Joplin. Family members had said Norton and his father were on the road when the storm hit. The teen's Hummer H3 flipped several times, throwing him from the vehicle, likely through the sunroof. His body was found in a pond near the truck.
(Eric Thayer / Reuters)
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Stephen Dickson stands in front of his parent's home while on the lookout for looters at dusk in Joplin on May 27. Although the house has no roof, Dickson sometimes sleeps in the home to protect it from looting.
(Mario Tama / Getty Images)
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The remains of a destroyed tree in Joplin on May 27, five days after a massive tornado passed through the town.
(Mario Tama / Getty Images)
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During a driving rain storm, Tracy Rogers, center, and others look for items to salvage from a friend's destroyed home on May 27 in Joplin.
(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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Scott Anderson reaches for a piece of debris on May 27 near his heavily damaged home in Joplin. Anderson said, "It's like they dropped a bomb on us." The town continues the process of recovering from the storm which damaged or destroyed an estimated 8,000 structures.
(Mario Tama / Getty Images)
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Robert Elbert hands a photograph of Stephanie Elbert's mother and father to her after they found it among the remains of their house on May 26 in Joplin.
(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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Darryl Strickland walks through what is left of his garage near Elgin, Ala., on May 26. It was blown 50 yards along US 72 by severe weather that raced across northwest Alabama.
(Matt Mckean / AP)
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Scott Taylor checks on Sue Dillman shortly after a severe storm tore the roof off her home in Bloomington on May 25. Dillman's home and surrounding barns were heavily damaged.
(Chris Howell / The Herald Times via AP)
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Ryan Millikan, center, lifts a container to Nick Wongratananajcha, left, as they help Lee Morris gather his possessions on May 25, three days after a killer tornado ravaged neighborhoods in Joplin.
(Tannen Maury / EPA)
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An aerial image of Joplin, Mo., shot on May 24, shows the remains of Joplin High School two days after an EF5 tornado touched down and destroyed a large portion of the town. The image was collected by digital imaging aircraft owned by M.J. Harden, a GeoEye Company. Harden flew an emergency mission for Missouri state officials to provide insight on relief efforts and emergency response.
(M.j. Harden / Geoeye / Handout / EPA)
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Alisha Kelly, of Neosho, gives away food and bottled water to residents and emergency workers on May 25 in Joplin. "We are just individuals who want to help," Kelly said. The tornado that ripped through the town of about 50,000 people May 22 is being called the deadliest single tornado in the U.S. in 60 years.
(Julie Denesha / Getty Images)
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A message is seen on the side of a building on May 25 in Joplin. A tornado tore through much of the city on Sunday, wiping out neighborhoods and killing more than 12o people.
(Mark Humphrey / AP)
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A recovery crew looks for bodies on May 25 in a destroyed church after a devastating tornado hit Joplin, Missouri. The death toll from a monster tornado that ravaged Joplin, rose to 125 on Wednesday after an overnight search turned up more bodies but no new survivors, authorities said.
(Eric Thayer / Reuters)
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Family and friends of a tornado victim clean-up and sort through debris on May 25 at a mobile home in Chickasha, Okla.
(Sue Ogrocki / AP)
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A house is left as a pile of rubble after being destroyed by a tornado west of El Reno, Okla. on May 24.
(Chris Landsberger / The Oklahoman via AP)
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Rebecca Watts walks by a car stuck in a tree after a tornado hit north of El Reno, Okla. on May 24. The high-powered storms arrived Tuesday night and early Wednesday, just days after a massive tornado tore up the southwest Missouri city of Joplin.
(Chris Landsberger / The Oklahoman via AP)
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Joplin High School sophomore Landan Taylor makes has way across the wreckage of the school's theater in Joplin, Mo., on May 24. At least 125 people were killed and hundreds more injured when a tornado cut a destructive path through Joplin on Sunday evening. Classes at all Joplin schools have been canceled for the rest of the schoolyear after four schools were damaged or destroyed.
(Mark Schiefelbein / AP)
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At the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota in Roseville on May 24, an avian nursery coordinator Jessika Madison helps feed some of the nine blue heron chicks that were orphaned by the tornado that hit Minneapolis on Sunday. The chicks have to be fed live minnows every 30-45 minutes while while they are awake.
(Richard Tsong-Taatarii / Minneapolis Star Tribune via Zuma Press)
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An official searches for a missing child near the lake shore after a tornado ripped through the Falcon Lake area of Piedmont, Oklahoma, on May 24. Several tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma on Tuesday afternoon, the largest one striking El Reno, west of Oklahoma City, and continuing to the northeast, the National Weather Service said.
(Bill Waugh / Reuters)
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The remains of the house owned by Scott and M'Lynn McCann that was destroyed by a tornado west of El Reno, Okla., are shown Tuesday. Authorities say a series of tornadoes rolled through Oklahoma City and its suburbs at rush hour on May 24.
(Paul B. Southerland / AP)
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Neighbors pitch in to help recover items out of the home of Scott and M'Lynn McCann that was destroyed by a tornado west of El Reno, Okla., on May 24.
(Chris Landsberger / AP)
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Armando Castillo retrieves personal items out of his truck that he was driving when it was swept off I-40 and destroyed by a tornado west of El Reno, Okla., on May 24.
(Chris Landsberger / AP)
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Ken Haebaum stands in his mud-splattered kitchen after a tornado ripped through the Falcon Lake area of Piedmont, Okla., on May 24. Haebaum and his wife sought shelter from the tornado in the hallway behind the door on the right side of the photo.
(Bill Waugh / Reuters)
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Martha Gaines walks among the rubble of her home after a tornado ripped through the Falcon Lake area of Piedmont, Okla., on May 24.
(Bill Waugh / Reuters)
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Jeannie Owens searches through a family member's destroyed home in Joplin, Mo., on May 24. A devastating tornado hit the day before, leaving hundreds dead or injured.
(Eric Thayer / Reuters)
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Water spurts from a broken water line in a destroyed Joplin home on May 24 as Lindsay Grundy, left, and Dana Moritz search for their grandmother's belongings.
(Tannen Maury / EPA)
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Ernie Darby hugs his son Davis on May 24 as they salvage what they can from the remains of their home in Joplin.
(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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Janet Martin attempts to salvage medication and mementos from her brother's home in Joplin before a second storm moves in on May 23. "Twenty minutes before the storm, he left to go to church," she said. "He would have been in that basement if he hadn't gone."
(Julie Denesha / Getty Images)
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Kathleen Kelsey, a canine rescue specialist with the Missouri Task Force One search-and-rescue team, guides ChicoDog through the wreckage of a public housing complex in Joplin on May 23.
(Mark Schiefelbein / AP)
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Joplin was not the only area that saw a twister over the weekend. Reading, Kan., also was hit, with one person killed. This grain elevator was part of the debris field there on May 23.
(Orlin Wagner / AP)
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A shelf cloud containing a thunderstorm approaches tornado-ravaged Joplin, Mo., on May 23. A large tornado moved through much of the city Sunday, damaging a hospital, hundreds of homes and businesses and killing at least 89 people.
(Charlie Riedel / AP)
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Donald and Helen Capps of Joplin, Mo., sit in a temporary Red Cross shelter at the Robert Ellis Young Gymnasium at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Mo., on May 23. The Capps lost their home after a destructive tornado moved through Joplin on Sunday evening.
(Mark Schiefelbein / AP)
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Emergency workers wait for a medical team after finding a body in a destroyed car in Joplin, Mo., in the early hours of May 23. A large tornado moved through much of the city Sunday, damaging a hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses.
(Charlie Riedel / AP)
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Utility workers clear downed power lines near the St. John's hospital early on Monday after the devastating tornado hit Joplin, Mo.
(Mike Stone / Reuters)
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An emergency worker searches a Walmart store that was severely damaged by the tornado that hit Joplin, Mo., on May 22.
(Charlie Riedel / AP)
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Emergency vehicles line up along northbound Rangeline Road in Joplin, Mo. after the tornado swept through the city on Sunday evening.
(Roger Nomer / The Joplin Globe via AP)
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Rescuers and neighbors look through the the wreckage of destroyed homes on a hillside in Joplin, Mo., on May 22.
(Mark Schiefelbein / AP)
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A triage team treats wounded people at a triage station set up at 26th and Main Streets in Joplin, Mo. after the tornado swept through the city on May 22.
(Mari Taylor / The Joplin Globe via AP)
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Emergency personnel walk through a neighborhood severely damaged by a tornado near the Joplin Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., on May 22.
(Mark Schiefelbein / AP)
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A pickup truck with what look to be two rescue workers and two injured people weaves in and out of traffic to get to Freeman Hospital West in Joplin, Mo.
(Jaime Green / The Wichita Eagle via AP)
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A tractor trailer is tipped over on Interstate 44 near Joplin, Mo., after the town was hit by a tornado on May 22.
(Jaime Green / The Wichita Eagle via AP)
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A woman talks on the phone from a roofless garage after a tornado struck northern Minneapolis, May 22, causing extensive property damage, killing at least one person and injuring at least 18 others.
(Craig Lassig / AP)
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Lucas Wickander, 13, shows off the skinned knuckles he received after diving under a porch to escape a tornado that struck northern Minneapolis, May 22.
(Craig Lassig / AP)
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Matt Railsback, of Miller, Kan., looks at the damage on May 22, caused by a tornado Saturday night in Reading, Kan. Miller was trapped in a storm shelter with his girlfriend in the blue house in the background. His truck was rolled end over end and came to rest at the fire station across the street.
(Anthony S. Bush / The Capital-Journal via AP)
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